Apple Card’s rewards program, Daily Cash, is expanding with the addition of Walgreens. The retailer joins Uber and Uber Eats to become the latest merchant to offer 3% Daily Cash to Apple Card customers who use Apple Pay at checkout. This includes purchases made in both Walgreens and Duane Reade retail stores, as well as on the web at walgreens.com and in the Walgreens mobile app.
Daily Cash is the Apple Card’s big incentive, as it offers a percentage back on every purchase when cardholders pay with Apple Pay, or when they pay with their titanium Apple Card when Apple Pay isn’t available.
Initially, only purchases made directly with Apple — including at Apple Stores, apple.com, the App Store, the iTunes Store and for Apple services — would qualify for the 3% Daily Cash. Apple Pay purchases earned 2% Daily Cash and those made with the physical card earned 1%.
This Daily Cash is paid out with every qualifying purchase and can be used right away for other Apple Pay purchases. It also can be put toward the Apple Card balance or sent to friends and family through iMessage.
But when the Apple Card launched in August to all customers in the U.S., Apple surprised users by expanding its 3% Daily Cash program to more merchants. Uber and Uber Eats were only the first of “many popular merchants” who would join the program in the months ahead, the company said at the time.
For the merchants, participation in the rewards program means better access to Apple’s sizable customer base, and a way to increase customer loyalty with their own businesses. After all, why not shop Walgreens over CVS when there’s 3% Daily Cash to be had?
Apple hasn’t yet said what other merchants may be joining the program in the future, but an obvious place to look would be at the big list of Apple Pay merchants who accept Apple Pay in their stores already, as Walgreens does.
“We know our customers love Apple Pay and they’re looking for convenient ways to shop and pay for their purchases at Walgreens. We’re pleased to offer a higher level of Daily Cash on Apple Card for even better value on daily essentials, medicines, and prescriptions,” said Joe Hartsig, chief merchandising officer, Walgreens, in a statement.
The retailer also expanded the number of stores carrying Apple accessories, including Lightning cables, EarPods and iPhone cases, to 2,600 stores chainwide, it says.
The Walgreens’ support for Apple Pay’s Daily Cash at the 3% rate will roll out on Friday, September 13, 2019.*
* Update: An earlier version of this article implied the feature was live now. It actually begins tomorrow.